Court allows NSA surveillance program during appeal
POSTED: 5:44 p.m. EDT, October 4, 2006
CINCINNATI, Ohio (AP) -- The Bush administration can continue its program of surveillance without a court warrant while it appeals a judge's ruling that the program is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The president has said the program is needed in the war on terrorism; opponents say it oversteps constitutional boundaries on free speech, privacy and executive powers.
The unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave little explanation for the decision. In the three-paragraph ruling, the judges said that they balanced the likelihood an appeal would succeed, the potential damage to both sides and the public interest.
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit ruled August 17 that the program targeting communications between people in the United States and people overseas with a suspected link to terrorism is unconstitutional. She refused September 28 to postpone her ruling during appeals, but gave the government a week to ask the 6th Circuit to halt it from taking effect. (Full story)
The Justice Department had urged the appeals court to allow it to keep the program in place while it argues its appeal, claiming that the nation faced "potential irreparable harm."
"The country will be more vulnerable to a terrorist attack," the government motion said.
The program monitors international phone calls and e-mails to and from the United States involving people the government suspects have terrorist links. A secret court has been set up to quickly grant warrants for such surveillance, but the government says it can't always wait for a court to take action.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the program on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers who say it has made it difficult for them to do their jobs because they believe many of their overseas contacts are likely targets. Many said they had been forced to take expensive and time-consuming overseas trips because their contacts wouldn't speak openly on the phone or because they didn't want to violate their contacts' confidentiality.
Similar lawsuits challenging the program have been filed by other groups. The issue could wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/04/domestic.spying.ap/index.html
